Off and Running!

We left ID Monday - oh so early - and drove here to my parents' house in WA - "the Park". Ethan and Lucas have been going nuts running all over and my mother is enjoying being my personal trainer. Walking is a whole other thing with these hills! Tonight we got to have a very special pre-birthday celebration with my Nana - very fun! The boys were in fine form - especially once the balloons came out. We had a great time hitting the balloons all over and even tossing them over the stair railing - very safe, I assure you!
Lucas has been very tired, but a trooper. He warmed up to everyone fairly quickly after being initially freaked out. Now he doesn't want to leave Uma or Upa's arms. Well, he really doesn't want to leave the toy vacuum. He and it are now best friends. If only it actually worked! We could use that...
We went swimming in a little wading pool, hiked through the woods, ran to walmart 5 or 6 times, played the piano, read books, NEVER STOPPED MOVING. That's the theme of this family I think.
Tomorrow we leave at 330 in the morning for IN to go and see my Baboo!!! For those of you not in-tuned to my family's special language- that's my dad's dad - out in South Bend, Indiana. We're getting ready for a big party- 4th of July with all 20 of us on that side. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself! I am so not looking forward to getting up that early- but totally worth it! Plus, having 2 extra laps on the plane is going to be really nice - like really really nice. Fun fun fun! Can you tell how excited I am?

Time...

The time it goes so quickly! We've been running around all day trying to get ready for our big trip. I think we're there- close anyway....
Lucas is obviously teething like crazy- so cranky. Ethan was kind of a mess today too. It's like they knew we had so much to do and wanted to be sure not to forget about them. So sweet :)
But - you must know - Lucas held on to the back of his SpiderMan ride-on toy and walked across the living room all by himself!! So proud I is - to borrow Ethan's grammar. I have to go to bed- it's so late already!!

A Trip to the Ducks...

It's been a nutso week- culminating in a nutso day today- as Brian was gone all afternoon at a movie and all evening at work... And I lost my voice (like completely) 2 days ago, not good... But we did have a fun morning together- visiting our local duck population.

Ethan practiced his pitching arm. He loved throwing the bread way way out and watching the ducks swim really fast to get it. I've never seen such fast ducks!

We gave Lucas some bread too...

He decided it was better if he just ate it...

Ethan got a ride for part of the way. He loved it way up high- until he smacked into some tree branches...

"Why are you making me sit here?"

"Oh, what are these?"

"Here little duckies..."

Don't worry, I saved the baby ducks. And managed to catch Lucas before he went over the side of the hill into the creek... When will I learn? All in all, a fun walk. We have the other half of the loaf to go and do tomorrow. We found lots more further down, after our bread was gone, so Ethan promised them we'd be back soon.

Oh, and Lucas got a 5th tooth- good for him! Maybe that is why sleeptime has been stinky? I hope! I want my good sleeper back! He has become quite adept at crawling and at pulling himself up. He goes all over the house now - fabulous!

Ethan got his second level prize for the library reading program today- a ticket to the Boise Hawks baseball game! We're excited! And if you go on a Tuesday night, one of the players reads a book to the kids before the game - too cool! I'm very proud of him- he loves loves loves to read. He actually picked out some cute books from the library this week that I'm enjoying reading. Last week- not so much :)

And now, on to workout #3 of the day. Oh the days of lounging around in the evening watching tv.... But hey, it's coming- slowly but surely!

A Vacation in Vacation...

I'm done with summer school for a few weeks - and it feels good to be free of planning for a bit. Of course, I have a class the next two days but I'll make it through. And then it's onto getting ready for our big trip! I can hardly wait. Tonight we Skyped with my parents and the boys were hilarious- never once stopped moving. Lucas even pulled himself up to standing (just off the floor, not holding on to anything) and stood there for about 8 seconds (yes, we counted). And Ethan grabbed his library book and "read" it to my parents. Then there was lots of chasing the laptop, squealing, screeching, and general showing off. They are charmers, these boys!
Yesterday we took the boys to go and feed the ducks on the greenbelt. Ethan loved it - no fear until the duck came and tried to nip the bread right out of his hand. So then the boy, ever creative, climbed on top of the bench from there on out to throw the bread. He didn't want to leave, kept telling the ducks - "We be back soon. We have to go to store to get more bread." And then he threw a big fit because I wouldn't take him right then. He really cares...
Oh these boys.... so cute... so exhausting... wouldn't trade 'em...

Father's Day will be Redone....

Happy Father's Day Brian! You are a fabulous daddy- too bad the boys were STINKERS today. Give us another chance on Friday, k?
Nap time has become a disaster. Lucas can now pull himself up, so he stands up and jumps and squeals while Ethan de-blankets the bed and tries to climb up the walls feet-first. They do NOT sleep. Awesome. Finally after fighting with them for an HOUR. I moved Ethan into my bed and then they both slept. Ethan slept for two hours, woke up, ate dinner, asked to go to bed an hour after he woke up. So.... not really the Father's Day one dreams of, right? Take two on Friday!

Yesterday we got to go to my friend Michelle's house for a water slide party. Ethan loved Miss Ella- just cooed at her and gave her lots of smiles. Lucas tried to scratch her eyes out - he is so charming! Ethan absolutely loved the gigantic slide- though he was terrified of the sprinklers at first. Some girls helped him up once and then he was in love! Up and over, up and over- so much fun! Lucas liked watching, but all those bigger kids kind of made him nervous.

We had the McConnels over for dinner last night- and had lots of fun with the boys. They really are going to be an exhausting lot when they are a bit bigger- I can see it starting now. Lucas, again, pulled Liam's socks off- what is that obsession? Ethan made Todd read him 45 books (ok, it was 3) before bed - and fun was had by all.
Today Ethan decided to go to church ready to help - really got into the whole "Church Without Walls" thing we did a while back. Actually, it's just his obsession with Bob the Builder has taken over. "Can we fix it? Yes we can!" He calls the toolbelt a "seatbelt", the hammer a "pound", and the pliers "cutters". You can tell how handy we are at our house.

And Lucas, sweet Lucas. This corner is now his favorite. He loves cords. He crawls so fast now, and every time I turn around, he has made his way back to the computer desk. He can even pull himself up on the door. Everytime I say "no" he grins and giggles- unlike this baby... http://ataleofasarahandtwojesses.blogspot.com/2009/06/this-is-what-happens-when-you-tell-baby.html

Remember when I thought Lucas was so calm and sweet? Good grief. He never stops shrieking and bouncing. I am going to have my hands full. He IS really a happy kid though- unless you have to pry him away from his precious cords. Sheesh... time for increased baby-proofing I suppose :)

This week is crazy busy as I have Summer School Monday and Tuesday, meeting with a personal trainer Monday afternoon, leadership meeting on Tuesday, and a conference all day Wednesday and Thursday... All this while packing for our big trip next week. We're driving to Seattle and then flying to Indiana for a good ol' family reunion with my Baboo (that's grandpa to those of you not in-the-know) and all my relatives on my Daddy's side. Exciting! But first- this crazy week :)

Trash Truck

Today was such a great day- so much fun! The boys were in great moods and we played and played and played some more. I also got lots of cleaning done- which Lucas used Ethan's trash truck to "help". Actually he helped by emptying out every drawer/shelf he could reach. So kind....
He's actually crawling on his knees now and even pulling himself up every now and then. It is so cute! Ethan was pushing him on the ride-on spiderman toy, while Ethan pushed himself on the John Deere, and was pretending that they were going to the store- very funny and super adorable.
Did I mention my boys are cute? Because I just want to make sure you know they are adorable!

A Quick Note...

My littlest munchkin is in his crib, asleep, with his arms wrapped all around a stuffed frog. It may be one of the cutest things I've ever seen :) And Ethan was adorable tonight- I took him to Walmart with me and we were in line FOREVER. Luckily, the owner of his daycare, Becky, was in line next to us and she kept him entertained. He was so funny. He said, "Becky no here at store, Becky need go back to daycare!" He adores her - and all of the people who work there.
Lucas has his 9 month appointment tomorrow morning. I'm excited to get his weight, etc. It's always fun to show him off.
I tried to blog last night and it wouldn't do it- so if I can find that post, I'll repost it later. I was just too exhausted to figure it out.
Oh, and I got to hang out with my Liam today - though he slept almost the whole time. It was fun to get to snuggle him. Lucas doesn't want to snuggle anymore- he just wants to go go go go go!

Tickle Wars and a Prize!

Ethan picked up his first library prize today- for 10 days of reading. He got a free kid's meal at Applebee's and a whistle that was incredibly obnoxious, but thankfully fell apart.
Lucas did not sleep at all today at daycare. His teacher said he was in a great mood- even played with Claire (he usually wants no one around him when he plays). Tooth #4 must have been the lucky one!
Tonight we played around on the floor with the boys- tickling and passing a ball around. It was really fun. Roughousing is really fun - until someone starts crying, but no one today! Just fun time rolling around.
I started summer school today - only 4 kids in each of the 2 groups I did. EASY. Fun! Then I got to take the school card to Barnes and Noble to spend a bunch of money on books- very FUN! Then, tonight was Zumba (aerobics) class and now I'm exhausted.
My favorite time of the day? When we put the boys to bed, Lucas WOULD NOT lay down. Every time we put him down, he'd roll over, and try to pull himself up - to start jumping up and down. It was frustrating, as we wanted them to go to bed, but it was so funny, Ethan and I could not stop laughing. He was so proud of himself for getting up on his knees, giggling away. It makes me smile just thinking about it :)

Mobility is a good thing, right?

Oh my word- this boy never stops moving (Lucas, that is). He is getting into EVERYTHING. And he's so quiet most of the time that I don't even realize he's all the way across the room yanking cords out of the computer. But his favorite pasttime - singing on the microphone.

He is so curious - wants to touch everything... Our camera is pretty bad, but can get a shot if things are fairly still. This still works for Lucas as he does generally pause for a minute now and then, but not so much for Ethan.

Lucas is still crawling just using his arms, mostly, but is starting to roll to get places and to shift onto his knees more.

Lullabies...

My camera is still being ridiculous - going to give it a try tomorrow and then decide if we have to get another one. Uck! I love having an orange camera!
The boys LOVE sharing a room. Ethan begs to go to sleep - as long as Lucas is there too. And he's so patient. Lucas cried for 30 minutes tonight. He didn't want to sleep, he wanted to play! And Ethan just laid there patiently, waiting it out. Such a good boy! In the morning they get up and shriek at each other and giggle while we pretend to still be asleep in bed (though brian can actually go back to sleep - not me!)
We played hard today. Lucas is pulling himself all over the house, though not too fast yet, so it's kind of nice. Ethan has discovered that he really likes having a brother to play with. And they LOVE their playroom. They both will play by themselves in there for a good chunk of time, though we usually end up in there playing too.
Other than that, Lucas got his third tooth and it was a doozy! He finally seems to be feeling better and that is a GOOD thing. I hate seeing him in pain.
Tomorrow is one of Ethan's good friend's birthday parties. It's a swimming party so he is so excited! I'm just cringing over the fact that it's right in nap time again. We will survive and probably have lots of fun in the meantime, I'm sure.
I'm off to go do my third workout. 30 Day Shred tonight, I think. And then... I am so going to bed. Well, probably not...

No More Monkeys.....

Check out the multitude of bruises on this kid. I swear we're careful, but it sure doesn't look like it. Tonight we stuck to playing on the couch - lots of pillows... (as you can see our camera is dying a slow, miserable death... everything is fuzzy - either that or I need to go back to the eye doc...)

And as promised - Pictures of the boys' room and the playroom (which is not so clean after a day of fun play). Ethan ONLY wants to play in the playroom - wanted to first thing this morning (at 5am when they woke up) and after daycare. It was nice not to have to clean the whole living room again tonight....

Speaking of bedrooms/bedtime - last night went pretty well with them sharing. Except for the whole waking up at the crack of dawn thing, it went great. Right now I can hear Ethan singing No more monkeys jumping on the bed, so I won't count tonight a success yet, but at least Ethan is eager to go to bed- thinks it's fun!

Lucas MUST be getting a tooth- fussy fussy fussy. Or maybe he's just grumpy. I have those days :) Other than that we had a fun day! I walked and then cleaned for hours - went shopping for our 4th of July shirts. I pick up the boys after Ethan's naptime- around 3, and then we played cars and blocks for a long time before dinner- very fun! It was just a good day overall :)

Don't Jinx it!!

So, we decided to move Lucas into Ethan's room today. Mostly so we can have a playroom to keep all of their junk in and because with the futon and crib in Lucas' room, it was packed. We never really played in either room, so hopefully this will create a place for the boys to hang out. I'll have to put some pics on tomorrow- too tired to do it now :)
The first five minutes or so Ethan kept yelling to us with a play by play of Lucas' actions... paci out, rolling over, looking at me.... you get the drift. But now it seems they're both asleep - here's hoping for a good night!
Brian and I started listening to Twilight today (book on tape - er digital recording) while we cleaned- very cool! Oh, and by cleaning, I mean shifting and moving things, but not actually cleaning. That'll have to be another day...
Ethan was so excited to go to bed tonight- to share his room- he went in early. It's fun to see him so excited to share.
I don't think I'm making much sense tonight. That would be because I did a 3 mile walk, moved lots of furniture, zumba class, and swim workout. Then I shopped all over Walmart and Costco. So you can see, there's just not much brain power left :)

Day 1 of Summer

How cute is he!! He is pulling himself all around now. Not going too far, but far enough to get into all of Ethan's toys. Big brother is handling it pretty well so far, but we'll see how long that lasts....
We grabbed Ethan from daycare today to take him to go see the new Pixar movie, Up. We loved it, but it was far more mature than the others and not really suitable for the preschool set. At one point he crawled into my lap and screamed, "TAKE ME BYE-BYE!!!" I gave him some Skittles and a big hug and we finished the movie bravely. It was pretty sad too- a beautiful love story...
Regardless of the nightmares I'm sure he'll get from it, Ethan had a great time with just Brian and I. It was nice to get to put all our attention on him, as his brother is stealing quite a bit of the spotlight these days...

He demands the spotlight... Loves standing up and shrieking at us. I really thought shrieking was a girl thing, but nope. He's a shrieker.

And Ethan loves being Mr. Silly. The more Lucas takes attention, the more silly he gets. But, he loves loves loves his brother. When we went to pick him up, he kept insisting that we had "lost" Lucas and needed to go find him.

And you know that big head of Lucas'. It crashes into things. A lot. Here's the latest "owie".

And here's the bandaid Ethan insisted on. I'm sure it'll be all better by morning, as Diego will be kissing it all night (that's who's on the bandaid.)

Did I mention how much I love summer? I got to walk 3 miles, do a Zumba (dance aerobics) class, yoga DVD, and play with my boys lots and lots... I love summer.

A death...

of our camera that is... We're going to try to mess with it today- now is NOT a good time to need a new camera :)
Summer has officially begun! I joined the gym where I won the membership for the summer and have been swimming my behind off (or at least trying). We've worked some in the yard, but are thunderstorm central around here, so not too much. Lucas is pulling himself all over the place - kinda cranky though and I think he might be getting a tooth. Ethan is... Ethan... cracking me up over and over. He had a playdate with his friend from daycare yesterday and it was really cute. He loves her house- didn't want to leave. He was mad he had to go and I asked him if he loved Savanna... He said, "Yes. I don't like you." Sad. But funny all the same.
Today is church and then who knows what- we definitely need to work in the yard, but I'm thinking that might wait until tomorrow when the boys are at daycare. Hopefully we'll get our camera back in shape today- you have got to see Ethan's new skates I got at the garage sale!

zzzzz....

I am so tired! I went and swam for an hour today, and it wore me out :)
The boys and I had a great day- lots of playing around and squealing. Ethan got to sign up for the Summer Reading Program at the Library- very exciting! Lucas was kind of fussy- I think tooth #3 might be right around the corner. Other than that, I finished cleaning at school and am free for a little over a week! That's when summer school starts. I'm lookin' forward to playing lots, and relaxing even! Here comes summer!

WAHOO YIPPEE!!!

Yes, I know it's fuzzy, but he's movin! He doesn't go real far yet, but he's definitely army-crawling his way forward. My Big Boy!!!
And, I am done for the summer (besides summer school)... So exciting!! These last few days went great- fabulous graduation, and lots of fun times with the kids. My favorite was running the halls at the end of the day today- great fun!
And then I came home to these guys- so cute! This is Ethan's "Princess". He twirled around for me- very funny!

And this one- so cute! He loved his mac and cheese at dinner and then had so much fun in the bath, he didn't want to get out.

I am so looking forward to snuggling them like crazy this summer! I have a work day tomorrow (a whole lot of cleaning!) and then other errands, but I"M DONE!!!

And Ethan is SO excited for me!